Astrocyte-Neuron Metabolic and Gliotransmitter Signalling Crosstalk

Astrocytes were long viewed as passive support cells, but they are now recognised as active partners in neural signalling that continuously sense, integrate, and shape neuronal activity. Astrocytes detect neurotransmitter release using their own receptor repertoire, respond with spatially and temporally structured intracellular calcium signals, and feed information back to neurons by releasing gliotransmitters such as glutamate, D-serine, ATP, and adenosine. In parallel, astrocytes are central to brain energy metabolism: they take up glucose, store glycogen, and supply lactate to active neurons through monocarboxylate transporters in the astrocyte-neuron lactate shuttle, coupling metabolic support directly to synaptic demand. This bidirectional signalling controls synapse formation and elimination, the induction of plasticity, network synchrony, and the clearance of neurotransmitters and metabolic waste. When astrocytic calcium signalling, gliotransmission, or metabolic coupling breaks down, the consequences propagate to neurons, and such dysfunction is increasingly implicated in epilepsy, neurodegenerative disease, chronic pain, psychiatric disorders, and the response to injury, yet the molecular pathways that link specific astrocytic signals to defined neuronal outcomes remain incompletely resolved.This Research Topic aims to bring together research that dissects the molecular basis of bidirectional neuron-glia communication, from the receptors and channels that generate astrocytic calcium signals, to the machinery of gliotransmitter release, to the transporters and enzymes that govern metabolic coupling. By integrating molecular neuroscience, metabolism, and signalling biology, the collection seeks to move beyond a neuron-centric view and to establish how astrocyte-neuron crosstalk is encoded, decoded, and disrupted across health and disease.We welcome research using biochemical, genetic, imaging, electrophysiological, metabolomic, and computational approaches, including work in genetically engineered model organisms, human iPSC-derived astrocytes and neurons, organoids, and advanced in vivo and in vitro systems. Studies that connect molecular changes in astrocytic signalling or metabolism to synaptic, circuit, or behavioural outcomes, and those identifying glial signalling nodes as therapeutic targets, are particularly encouraged. Topic editors: Pablo Cisternas, Clarrisa (Lisa) A Bradley, Stephanie Dooves Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85912/astrocyte-neuron-metabolic-and-gliotransmitter-signalling-crosstalk